Mister songman

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The song Mister songman is

Excellent
5
14%
Very Good
7
19%
Good
10
27%
Average
8
22%
Bad
3
8%
Boring
4
11%
 
Total votes: 37



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tcb4
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Mister songman

#631346

Post by tcb4 »

Hello

Your opinion of this song :?:



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keninlincs
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Re: Mister songman

#631348

Post by keninlincs »

very good i think


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Rob

Re: Mister songman

#631353

Post by Rob »

I have always liked the song for personal reasons. Especially that tag line, "Take away the night, sing away my hurt, Mr. Songman."

Not an Elvis classic by any means, but very pleasant to these ears.



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Tony Trout
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Re: Mister songman

#631445

Post by Tony Trout »

Rob wrote:I have always liked the song for personal reasons. Especially that tag line, "Take away the night, sing away my hurt, Mr. Songman."

Not an Elvis classic by any means, but very pleasant to these ears.

I agree, Rob. It's not what one would term a 'classic' Elvis song but it is one of my favorites. I love the mix on the 70s box set of this song.


"If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes!" - Elvis Presley (August 10, 1970 backstage in his dressing room before the first show of the August, 10, 1970/September 8, 1970 season in Vegas).

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midnightx
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Re: Mister songman

#631447

Post by midnightx »

Bad



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Lennart
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Re: Mister songman

#631457

Post by Lennart »

I´ve never liked that song, one of his worst from the 70:s.
Still don´t understand why it was chosen as the flip side to T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

So I voted "Bad"

All my humble opinion, of course!

Lennart



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dreambear
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Re: Mister songman

#631765

Post by dreambear »

A good performance of a boring song in my opinion. Boring is what I voted!

//Björn



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ColinB
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Re: Mister songman

#631767

Post by ColinB »

Rob wrote:I have always liked the song for personal reasons.
But a person's like or dislike of a song is always based on 'personal reasons' isn't it ?

I guess you mean the song has some 'special' meaning for you..............


Colin B
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drjohncarpenter
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Re: Mister songman

#631938

Post by drjohncarpenter »

tcb4 wrote:Hello

Your opinion of this song :?:
In a career filled with peaks, Elvis was really peaking when he cut the master of "Mr. Songman."

"Take away the knives, sing away my skirt, Mr. Sooongmaaaan."


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Stop, look and listen, baby <<--->> that's my philosophy!


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Re: Mister songman

#632019

Post by Pete Dube »

At best it's fair to middlin.' I think it's the weakest track from the December '73 Stax sessions. Somebody shoulda said "Elvis, forget about this one and do another Chuck Berry tune!"



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midnightx
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Re: Mister songman

#632025

Post by midnightx »

Pete Dube wrote:At best it's fair to middlin.' I think it's the weakest track from the December '73 Stax sessions. Somebody shoulda said "Elvis, forget about this one and do another Chuck Berry tune!"
Or if anything, hunt down some more Shirl Milete gold.




Rob

Re: Mister songman

#632026

Post by Rob »

drjohncarpenter wrote:In a career filled with peaks, Elvis was really peaking when he cut the master of "Mr. Songman."

"Take away the knives, sing away my skirt, Mr. Sooongmaaaan."
Have you been experimenting in the medicine cabinet again?



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Denman
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Re: Mister songman

#632077

Post by Denman »

I like it.


"If this suit weren't too tight."

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Re: Mister songman

#632091

Post by Mike Eder »

It's an ok album cut. Not bad, not great. Some of the harmonies are nice, but nothing I play over and over.


Mike Eder


Pete Dube
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Re: Mister songman

#633685

Post by Pete Dube »

midnightx wrote:
Pete Dube wrote:At best it's fair to middlin.' I think it's the weakest track from the December '73 Stax sessions. Somebody shoulda said "Elvis, forget about this one and do another Chuck Berry tune!"
Or if anything, hunt down some more Shirl Milete gold.
Only if Shirl had another "It's Your Baby, You Rock It" lying around.




likethebike
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Re: Mister songman

#634374

Post by likethebike »

I don't think it's terrible. It's kind of a mediocre country singalong type song. The verse lyric would benefit from being a little less pretentious. Elvis' performance is committed but careful. I see this song as kind of an exercise more than as an artistic statement.

Lennart- If you can't bury a pedestrian track on a B-side where can you put it. Elvis, for most of his career, was unique in even paying attention to B-sides. Phil Spector was so focused on A-sides that he would make the B-sides deliberately unlistenable in order to keep attention on the A. This was especially so after "Unchained Melody" a song he considered a toss off, topped "Hung on You."



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midnightx
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Re: Mister songman

#634378

Post by midnightx »

likethebike wrote:I don't think it's terrible. It's kind of a mediocre country singalong type song. The verse lyric would benefit from being a little less pretentious. Elvis' performance is committed but careful. I see this song as kind of an exercise more than as an artistic statement.
Sadly, this scenario played out way too often for an artist of Elvis' talents.




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Re: Mister songman

#634384

Post by likethebike »

It's just that Elvis was musical woodshedder and sometimes you had to go through this stuff to reach the classics. We had to go through "I Love You Because" and "Harbor Lights" (sorry Cryo) to get to "That's All Right Mama." The same could be said of this song and "Promised Land."



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drjohncarpenter
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Re: Mister songman

#634386

Post by drjohncarpenter »

likethebike wrote:It's just that Elvis was musical woodshedder and sometimes you had to go through this stuff to reach the classics. We had to go through "I Love You Because" and "Harbor Lights" (sorry Cryo) to get to "That's All Right Mama." The same could be said of this song and "Promised Land."
There was a lot more, uh, woodshedding in the 1970s, with very little payback when compared to the 1950s.


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BigredG
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Re: Mister songman

#634487

Post by BigredG »

Pleasant enough song, well performed. I like it a lot, but can see why others would despise it. Not a classic of course.

I voted good.



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javilu
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Re: Mister songman

#634492

Post by javilu »

Average for me. Nothing special.


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Re: Mister songman

#634771

Post by RonBaker2003 »

I'd rather listen to "Harbor Lights" (which is an outtake) than to "Mister Songman". Can't say the same for "I Love You Because" though...yuck.



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Lennart
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Re: Mister songman

#634824

Post by Lennart »

Lennart- If you can't bury a pedestrian track on a B-side where can you put it. Elvis, for most of his career, was unique in even paying attention to B-sides. Phil Spector was so focused on A-sides that he would make the B-sides deliberately unlistenable in order to keep attention on the A. This was especially so after "Unchained Melody" a song he considered a toss off, topped "Hung on You."[/quote]

Well, my opinion is that he should never recorded the song in the first place.
Since he did record it, it should not been released and if Elvis/Felton/RCA STILL would have it relaesed, it was quite enough to have it released on the "Promised Land" LP.

The B-side to T.R.O.U.B.L.E should have been "Pieces of my life" instead.
"Bringing it back" wasn´t that all great A-side but the B-side was really good.

Lennart



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Cryogenic
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Re: Mister songman

#636596

Post by Cryogenic »

likethebike wrote:It's just that Elvis was musical woodshedder and sometimes you had to go through this stuff to reach the classics. We had to go through "I Love You Because" and "Harbor Lights" (sorry Cryo) to get to "That's All Right Mama." The same could be said of this song and "Promised Land."
GRRRRGGGH!!!!!

*shakes fist in LTB's direction*

:wink:

I understand what you're saying, LTB, but it just comes down to personal taste.

I don't personally find "Mr Songman" earth-shattering, but some, perhaps most, wouldn't agree with all my choices, either.

Heck, outside of the EP World, Elvis isn't even admired very much as an artist, these days. Everyone has their own interests and likes/dislikes.




likethebike
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Re: Mister songman

#637036

Post by likethebike »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
likethebike wrote:It's just that Elvis was musical woodshedder and sometimes you had to go through this stuff to reach the classics. We had to go through "I Love You Because" and "Harbor Lights" (sorry Cryo) to get to "That's All Right Mama." The same could be said of this song and "Promised Land."
There was a lot more, uh, woodshedding in the 1970s, with very little payback when compared to the 1950s.
What're you gonna do? Sometimes you're more on your game than other times.


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